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I went ahead and left the office at 3:30 to try to get ahead of Atlanta traffic

Haha... hahahahahaha!
Ahem, sorry.
Every time I've ever been remotely near Atlanta, my first thought would be to avoid the traffic by going a day early... It's definitely not my favorite place to drive through, but then again neither is Augusta during the Masters and I wind up doing that every blasted year because of improper planning (apparently it's just not cool to keep my kids in the house for the entire Spring Break, who knew?! )

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Haha... hahahahahaha!
Ahem, sorry.
Every time I've ever been remotely near Atlanta, my first thought would be to avoid the traffic by going a day early... It's definitely not my favorite place to drive through, but then again neither is Augusta during the Masters and I wind up doing that every blasted year because of improper planning (apparently it's just not cool to keep my kids in the house for the entire Spring Break, who knew?! )

OMG.... I know, right? Lol It's gotten so awful! Since you're familiar with the "lovely" crap-tastic commute in the A-T-L, getting up 85 from DeKalb county to the southern tip of Lake Lanier in 45 minutes is pretty ah-maze-ing at 3:30 pm on a school day. My husband was like, "you used the peach pass lane, didn't you?" Yep. Sure did, buddy! I can't even imagine Augusta during the Masters. We've got friends in Augusta that live there and told us how bad it is!

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Wow! You had a crazy day. You definitely need to pat yourself on the back for staying strong today. Amazing job!

Thank you so much @Beckha99! The thanks really goes to my two lifelines that were there when I needed them; I honestly feel like I would have failed spectacularly had it not been for them. I guess that's why we have them there in the first place though, right?

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Wow - what a day. The entire letter from the IRS thing is horrible - shaky, OMG, kinda stuff, even if you know it's just a glitch. Wow - talk about a major adrenal gland workout!

And congratulations on tackling the rest of the day with such finesse!!

I know, right?? Ugh! It was a major adrenaline gland workout. I wish there was a gauge to figure out how much cortisol I released in to my body; all I know is my ankles were puffy last night, and that was all from stress.

I don't know about the finesse part, although you're sweet to say so! Thank you @Emma! I actually think it was more like when Melissa McCarthy fell down the stairs in The Boss; that's what it really felt like lol

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OMG.... I know, right? Lol It's gotten so awful! Since you're familiar with the "lovely" crap-tastic commute in the A-T-L, getting up 85 from DeKalb county to the southern tip of Lake Lanier in 45 minutes is pretty ah-maze-ing at 3:30 pm on a school day. My husband was like, "you used the peach pass lane, didn't you?" Yep. Sure did, buddy! I can't even imagine Augusta during the Masters. We've got friends in Augusta that live there and told us how bad it is!

That is definitely a feat, and yes I can't imagine managing that without that lane! Never an option when we're over that way (which isn't often anyway). Most of my ATL experience is highway, heading west toward Birmingham, AL. My parents travel it a lot more often than I do, though, since I'm generally staying home with my kids or dealing with work stuff for me and/or the husband.

We live "in the Augusta area" but not technically in Augusta, and far enough from the course that the stand-still traffic (from people walking across the street to get to the course) doesn't affect us, really. We still get traffic effects over here, but that's mostly just due to the influx of people who come into town for the tournament while maybe half the residents are running away for Spring Break.

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We live "in the Augusta area" but not technically in Augusta, and far enough from the course that the stand-still traffic (from people walking across the street to get to the course) doesn't affect us, really. We still get traffic effects over here, but that's mostly just due to the influx of people who come into town for the tournament while maybe half the residents are running away for Spring Break.

I'm glad you managed to get through the traffic AND the day, though.

I think our friends are in the same boat you are. They're in the Augusta area but not technically Augusta. While they're not down next to the course, Amy did tell me they get pretty bad traffic from the Masters where they live. I'm fairly certain they're one of the families that leave for that week's spring break. They warned us, but my husband is wanting to get in the lottery for the practice rounds. Yay....lol!

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R1D24 (35) Ahhhhh...... Tuesday!! And it wasn't a Monday redux! Thank goodness! I'm exhausted, tho. I went to bed early and slept great, but yesterday was just too much. At least that's what I thought until I got in to work. One of the gals at the other agency in the same building and I were chatting, and it turns out her daughter's fiance was getting testing for colon cancer yesterday when I was dealing with the IRS. Not something anyone would want to go thru - much less a 20-something year old young man. Suddenly, my crappy day yesterday wasn't such a big deal. Everything in perspective, right? Good news is he's okay; no cancer!

Rest of the day was good, and I got caught up on calls and marketing from yesterday. My boss was out, and it was relatively quiet. I love days like today! I also got a new diffuser for the house, and I can't wait to run it tonight at bedtime. There's a 10 hour setting on it that cycles on/off every 5 minutes. Definitely going to try it!

Getting ready for reintroduction next week, and oh my goodness! Only 6 more days..... and it feels like it's going at a snail's pace. After looking at the reintro options, I've decided on slow roll. The fast track just seems like too much, too soon for me. I really want to be able to isolate individual foods, and slow roll is the only way I can think to do that successfully for what I'm trying to accomplish. Right now, I'm just writing down all the foods I want to try; then, I'll set my schedule.

Traveling to a client's office tomorrow for a lunch meeting. There's lots of bistros by their office, so we're actually going to look at some menus before heading out. They know I'm Whole 30 and want to be sure where we eat is "safe". It's one of my favorite clients, and I can't wait to make the quarterly visit!

Tonight I get to have a little R&R, which I'm really looking forward to. One of my friends sent me two movies to watch on his shared server, and I think I'll dive into one of those before bedtime. The hubs is tiling the guest bath tonight, so it's ladies choice on the movie! Yay!

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The beef stew sounds delicious! Hope you found a good movie. I watched half of First Man on HBO Now. I’m glad I didn’t want to grow up to be an astronaut or this movie would have squashed that dream showing how difficult preparations for the moon landing were. It’s a pretty good movie though so far..just long.

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The beef stew sounds delicious! Hope you found a good movie. I watched half of First Man on HBO Now. I’m glad I didn’t want to grow up to be an astronaut or this movie would have squashed that dream showing how difficult preparations for the moon landing were. It’s a pretty good movie though so far..just long.

Love love love First Man! My husband and I remember the Apollo 11 mission from when we were little, so that movie was close to our hearts. When I looked at the movies Matt had uploaded, they were all too long so I read a little and caught up on last week's Handmaid's Tale. The Vietnamese beef stew was super tasty, and I opted to do it in the slow cooker versus braising in the oven or on the stove top (4 hours on high). This recipe made quite a bit, so yay for leftovers! I made a few tweaks: in the marinade, I replaced brown sugar with date paste, and I used a little coconut oil to brown the beef; I also used bone broth to replace half of the water and used 2 cups instead of 3. If you try it, please tell me how you like it https://www.marionskitchen.com/vietnamese-beef-stew/

Slept like a freaking log last night except with a little wake up in the middle of the night. The new diffuser was terrific! I used doTERRA's Console blend, and even the hubs said it helped him. I'm back to sleeping with the TV on; I was having some super bizarre dreams with it off. I guess the quiet gave my ADHD brain too much space to play. Kind of like leaving a toddler unattended for five minutes.

Client lunch was great! We went into the little town near their office and ate at a new bistro that served organic, grass fed locally sourced ingredients. They were easily able to make minor adjustments to my lunch to keep it compliant, and the owner/chef had some really great menu options.

Then right next door, there was a sweet shop that made homemade pralines and some other artisanal treats I won't torture you by describing. I wanted to get a little something for my family, so I walked in and was immediately overpowered by the sugar smell. I knew I had detoxed from sugar, but to have it smell so strong that it was sickening was really surprising. I grabbed a couple things for the guys and headed out of there without craving a single thing in the store; I'm not a big sweets fan anyway. I kept hearing Wilford Brimley's voice in my head saying 'diabeetus'. It's a cute little shop, and I'll visit there again for something special or gifts.

Back in to the office tomorrow and meetings with my boss. He usually wants to go out for lunch when we have planning sessions for the next quarter, so I'm going to bring in an extra Vietnamese beef stew for him. That way we can work thru lunch and not worry about finding something close by that's compliant. Since I'm within my last week before reintro, I'm finding it a little harder to stay the course; I'm just trying to remove as much temptation as possible.

I was up a little earlier than normal to help the hubs get ready for his meetings today, so I used the extra time and made some homemade spicy Italian sausage. It smelled so good, I cooked some up and had it with my eggs for breakfast. Yeah..... I'm making that again! I'm really enjoying making my own sausage and knowing what's in it. Plus I can adjust the seasonings to my family's tastes; it's a lot easier than I thought. I'm seriously considering trying to make some Greek loukaniko this weekend. I think the sausage making is taking the place of the bread baking I used to do; it has the same de-stressing feel to it.

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R1D26 (37) Thursday and one more day closer to Monday, Day 30! I'm getting excited!

I'm going thru my reintro schedule, and so far, I have planned D31=honey; D35=soy sauce; D39=oats; D43=maple syrup; D47=cheddar cheese; D51=quinoa; D55=parmesan cheese; D59=all purpose flour. That'll take me thru a month of slow reintro and seeing how these things affect me. I opted for honey right away so I can use it in cooking and salad dressing, if it works out. I love the wild honey I get from our local beekeeper; it's so good! He and his wife also sell bee pollen, which is wonderful! As much as I miss my spicy Chinese dumplings, I'm saving those until I test soy sauce and flour. And even if they're okay, I'm going to watch how much of them I eat.

Work was good today and my boss appreciated the lunch. We didn't talk about much; he really liked the stew! After lunch, we knocked out part of the Q4 strategy and decided to finish it Monday. The hubs and I are going to be 'empty nesters' for a couple days this weekend, so it'll give us some time to go over home stuff. Nothing huge and I'm going to spend some time cleaning and organizing. I loved my job, but I'm just ready for the work week to be done.

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Oh I like your reintro plan and I like how you spaced it out a month. And I liked your reasoning for honey. I wonder if I should do that too because I plan to make some paleo baked goods during the birthday party season. I'm ready for the work week to be over too

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Oh I like your reintro plan and I like how you spaced it out a month. And I liked your reasoning for honey. I wonder if I should do that too because I plan to make some paleo baked goods during the birthday party season. I'm ready for the work week to be over too

We're in the same mind set. I figured honey right off the bat because, if it's an 'ok' thing, I can use it in paleo baking and vinaigrettes. Same for the maple syrup, but I wanted to avoid too much sugar too close together. I don't eat much sugar anyway, and even tho I would like to know about honey and maple syrup, I figure I might get a false reaction if I reintroduce them too close together. I chose the things I use the most of to start with, but the reintroduction is going to take a while and I'm definitely okay with that given how good I'm feeling!

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R1D27 (38) Friday's in my industry are either a slow roll or crazy busy. Today was the latter. I've got one client without an HR Coordinator, and she's freaking out so she's calling and emailing me all day long. I don't mind, it is my job but it cuts in to what I have to do for other clients. She's trying hard to keep up, tho (bless her heart). The day, as nuts as it was, made it hard for me to stick to my schedule. I was late for breakfast, which put off lunch and that cut in to dinner time. I just feel 'off'.

Glad the weekend is here and we get the house to ourselves for the next couple of days. The hubs is golfing tomorrow, so I'm going to make some sausage for next week and plan menus. I'm getting anxious for Tuesday morning when I get to check my weight and measurements. I know it's not the focus of what we're doing, but I've seen so much physical change that I'm just curious to see. My family has noticed too, and they're equally curious. Any loss, any lost my inches is a win! And then there's honey!

Breakfast - chorizo omelette; coffee with Nut Pods

Lunch - chicken and apple sausage with cabbage

Dinner - meatloaf; pan roasted potatoes and onions

Totally non-template and it was a seriously off day but I stayed compliant!

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I'm getting anxious for Tuesday morning when I get to check my weight and measurements. I know it's not the focus of what we're doing, but I've seen so much physical change that I'm just curious to see.

Oh my gosh - that's exactly what I was thinking last night except I was thinking I'd go to the gym this morning to weigh myself since I'm so close to the official end. But you're plan is better. I'll wait till Tuesday as well. I have no measurements (wish I did) but I can tell by the way my clothes are fitting that things have changed. Enjoy your quiet day alone!!!

I will definitely share total pounds and inches, but it is really important to remember there are so many other variable measurements to your personal success your Whole 30 journey that go way beyond weight and measurements. It's also very important to track your non-scale victories (NSV's) to keep from being discouraged along the way, and it will happen. It's part of the process; it's something I still have to remind myself of everyday

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R128 (39) Saturday recap. I ended up being a lot busier than planned, but it was great day! I put off my grocery shopping and sausage making to Sunday, so I went to the butcher and then to a bake shop to order a cake for my Mom's birthday next weekend. The cake......oh dear. I walked in this place and my eyes just went crazy. The cake maker wanted to stand at the counter to go over everything (which was chock full of treats), and I had to ask her if we could sit at a table. She said we could (they also serve breakfast), and I needed to get away from the temptations, and trust me..... there were plenty, even for me. After that, it was back to the house, and I went back to working on the pantry project. It's amazing how much stuff is in the pantry we're going to donate. At least it'll be clean and organized.

Sunday, we've got a lot planned around the house as well as working on the budget for the holidays. I'm trying to keep myself busy knowing it's my last couple days on Whole 30, especially since I'm really wanting to finish the full 30 days. It just seems like I'm having a harder time right now than I did two weeks ago, so I have ramped up the foods I'm cooking and making sure I've got plenty of yummy leftovers on hand. Funny thing is that I don't understand why I'm having such a mental pushback; it's not like I'm going to run back to the bake shop and grab a bunch of sweets or go to Gu's Dumplings on Krog Street for a bowl of cold Chengdu noodles. I'm definitely committed to the reintro I've planned and continuing on this food path my body is responding well to. My husband has had to throw me a few lifelines since Friday, and I'm guessing he'll need to do so again between now and Tuesday morning.

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It is funny because you sound so strong and steady. I sure don't want you to run back to the bake shop or Gu's Dumplings because you're kinda serving as my role model/compadre in this process. Your husband is wonderful and his support is pretty wonderful. I wonder if it's harder now because the need to prioritize and focus on the process is beginning to take a back seat. I have to keep reminding myself of that. This morning I was thinking about how the scale might not show much change. It will show some, but maybe only a couple pounds and I was telling myself that a couple pounds is still quite a bit, but more importantly, I sure wasn't doing this to lose weight. Losing weight is a necessary part of the process of getting healthier, but my first goal was getting healthier which I'm doing eating this way and the losing weight is only one of the many data points. Those NSV's really don't get the credit they deserve.

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I will definitely share total pounds and inches, but it is really important to remember there are so many other variable measurements to your personal success your Whole 30 journey that go way beyond weight and measurements. It's also very important to track your non-scale victories (NSV's) to keep from being discouraged along the way, and it will happen. It's part of the process; it's something I still have to remind myself of everyday

Indeed I think NSV are a wise way to focus in what's really important.